Much of Tazz's bio talks about his growing up in Brooklyn. Comments
from Tazz
and his father attest to the roughness of the area, including that his
school
was one of the first to have metal detectors. Tazz's background in
judo and
football shows how legitimately tough the guy is. We learn from his
coach just
how hard the Smackdown! announcer is.

Tazz spends a portion of his bio walking around his old high school
football
stadium, describing how rough it was. Given Tazz's excellent speaking
ability,
the segment is really enjoyable to watch.

Next up, we learn about Tazz's early training from Johnny Rodz, then
progresses
into his ECW days. It's really fortunate that Paul Heyman was with WWE
to be
able to comment on Tazz's time in ECW, leading up to his debut at the
Royal
Rumble. WWE be damned for not pushing this guy to a title right away,
because
the reaction to Tazz was nothing short of massive.

The segment is awesome, and is a must see, if for nothing else, than
to hear
Tazz's mom, of all people, call him, "the most mischievous little
b*tch
that ever walked the Earth."

Cena's bio starts with his friends talking about him being a goof,
doing wild
stuff just for the sake of doing wild stuff. Basically a class clown,
Cena's
zaniness would later be seen in a clip of him walking around in a
thong and
afro wig. This explains how he gets away with doing his current thug
gimmick
to a tee.

Cena's parents and grandmother comment on him as a child, with Cena
adding
his own comments on his unique style, admitting to wearing MC Hammer
pants.
After this, we further learn how much a goof Cena was, as he and his
brothers
talk about how they'd basically wreak havoc on their family home. The
stories
are unique. We also learn that Cena would organize "wrestling
events"
in his basement, going so far as to create cardboard title belts for
everyone.
Of course, being booker, he'd give himself the jmost important title.

Cena's college football career is briefly discussed before talking
about his
bodybuilding career, including footage of the gym he trained in. at
some points,
Cena's body looks freakish, kind of like Scott Steiner's. Cena then
talks about
starting his career in UPW, before talking about his WWE start.

Cena's bio is awesome and definitely worth a look.

Bio: Shawn Michaels

HBK's bio kicks off at an airport base where his father was
stationed. It's
eerie how much Michaels looks like his dad.

Michaels is described by his dad and mom (who really wanted Shawn to
be a girl)
as a shy, nice kid. Michaels takes is through his old neighbourhood.
We learn
about his high school life, pretty typical ladies' man and football
star.

Shawn's parents tried to discourage him from wrestling, but he always
would
watch and wanted to be a part of the business. We learn from his
friend how
they'd practice wrestling moves in the gym and in the family's pool,
including
putting on a match at a school talent show.

We then learn about HBK's training with Jose Lothario, and his
progression
through the territories. We also learn about how the Rockers started
and got
their break in the AWA. The first stint in the WWF was a short one
before they
go through Tennessee and AWA. Eventually, they get back into the WWF
and the
rest is history.

An overall solid segment, especially if you haven't seen the
Confidential pieces.

Bio: Christopher Nowinski

We start with Nowinski's tour through Tough Enough, and his venture
into the
indies before getting started in his WWE career.

Nowinski had an athletic, yet geeky childhood, then really started
big in high
school. We see a lot of home footage of his acting and athletics
careers. Moving
onto Harvard, we hear about his football career, and learn about his
development
on the gridiron. Then we FINALLY here about his wrestling fandom and
his Tough
Enough career (he left Killer
Kowalski's school to participate in the show).

This segment did nothing really to entertain me. Nowinski really
doesn't show
much of an interesting personality or upbringing, and could've been
avoided.

Snow's bio starts with talking about Georgia Championship Wrestling
and how
he got his break with the company through Al Lancaster. We also see
some EARLY
clips of Snow, which is absolutely amazing.

In 1994, Snow got his break in ECW. He got offers from WCW and the
WWF, and
he would end up with the WWF. Snow talks about his early gimmicks,
including
Avatar, Shinobi and Leif Cassidy. Between gimmicks, Al was given
breaks at home,
which he was frustrated with. Eventually, Snow was loaned to ECW. We
also learn
about the origin of Head, which is a pretty cool story. Eventually,
Vince called
Snow to come back to the WWF, and we know how Snow's story has gone
since then.

This is easily one of the best wrestling stories I've ever seen, in
and out
of this DVD.

We start with a show of the three Ortons and see some stills of Orton
with
Hogan and Andre. Momma Orton wasn't a fan of Randy going into
wrestling.

Randy entered the marines, but tried to leave. Eventually, he was
caught, and
was disciplined. He would soon leave the corps, however, and his
father helped
him get to Stamford for a contract. He would be sent to OVW, and we
see footage
of his development. Several superstars and WWE employees comment on
his development.

Jericho's bio starts with him talking about Winnipeg and how the
coldness toughened
him up (I can attest to that).

Jericho's father, Ted
Irvine, talks about
how he loved to read and play sports.
We get some cool home videos. A lot of the video is footage of Chris
and his
friends talking about water polo and music.

Jericho was a wrestling fan early on, and a chance meeting with Jesse Ventura
at a charity hockey game lead him to get into the business. He would
train in
Calgary with Lance
Storm, and ended up back in Winnipeg with the WFWA (one of
the many Tony
Condello promotions). Jericho then talks about his time in Japan
and Mexico, and his eventual title runs in the WWF.

The piece overall is good, but there were a few holes in it (ECW,
WCW, SMW
etc.). It's too bad the bio couldn't be longer, but hopefully we'll
get a solo
DVD soon of Y2J.

Bio: Torrie Wilson

We start with Torrie's family talking about her debut in WCW and
comments about
the skimpiness of her clothing. Her brothers express concern about her
wrestling.

The bulk of the bio is her family talking about her early and high
school life.
Interestingly, her stepfather gives a lot of commentary, but not her
birth father,
Al. I guess they're still going with the illusion that he's dead. They
also
talk about her modelling, eating disorder, and fitness-modelling
career.

The segment is painfully long for the typical "smalltown
girl" who
hits the big-time.

As it turns out, RVD was a pretty geeky kid, according to his
parents. There's
home movies of Van Dam as a kid with his siblings. He'd love to swim,
and learned
a lot of his acrobatics on the diving board.

School teachers talked about RVD as being a goof, at times life his
teacher
and give her helicopter spins. Then we learn about a backflip he did
off the
roof of his school.

Then, we get into his wrestling, and his parents talk about the Ted
Dibiase moment,
which is in the extras. His parents talk about his kick-boxing
background, then
his wrestling career, including some comments about his ECW career.

Overall, the main portion of the DVD is pretty good. It's somewhat
like watching
an extended Confidential piece, but not a bad compilation by any
stretch.

Now onto the extras...

DVD Extras

Extra 1> Rob Van Dam kisses Ted Dibiase's foot for $100.00
- This
is one of those surreal wrestling moments, and one that is really cool
to see.
The footage is from WWE Challenge, and the Dibiase voiced-over promo
is a good
keeper.

Extra 2> The Rockers vs. "Iron" Mike
Sharpe/The Intruder
- A more than decent debut for the then AWA veterans. Vince and Jesse
Ventura
provide commentary in the bout, talking about an injury to "Superstar"
Billy Graham. A voice-over promo has The Rockers challenging
Demolition. The
Rockers, of course, win the match, with a double-team hiptoss into a
pin. Rating
- 4 out of 10.

Extra 3> Al Snow story - Snow relates a story about how he
searched
for a wrestling school, eventually getting through to a tryout at Gene
and Ole
Anderson's school. The story is pretty graphic and funny at the same
time. This
could've been included in the DVD. A good story, nonetheless.

Extra 4> Avatar vs. Brian Walsh - For those who don't
remember, Avatar
had a very similar look to Hayabusa, only Snow would only wear the
mask during
the match. The match is pretty acrobatic with Snow hitting some sweet
moves,
and Walsh is pretty good himself. The segment, interestingly, begins
with Vince
and Jerry
Lawler talking about Michaels' beating outside a nightclub. Snow wins
with a stomach stand into a big splash. Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Extra 5> Chris Jericho vs. Alex Wright - This is Jericho's
WCW debut.
Eric Bischoff and Bobby
Heenan are on commentary, talking about the two as the
future of WCW. Gee, and Jericho was one of the men responsible for the
death
of WCW. In any case, the match is a good bout between the two, with
high-flying
moves all over the place. For reference, this is near the beginning of
the nWo,
before Bischoff turned. The match ends when Wright collides with the
ring barrier
after a top-rope move. Jericho, rather than taking the coutout, calls
the match
dead. He'd never do that now. This was shorter than it was supposed to
be, but
not bad overall. Rating: 4 out of 10.

Extra 6> Tazz vs. Mikey
Whipreck - This is from the ECW Invasion
in 1997. This is also one of the few times that Paul Heyman and Jerry
Lawler
were on commentary together and they work well. Tazz dominates with a
variety
of suplexes including a release Tiger Suplex and sweet Northern
Lights. Sabu
at one point, draws a crowd by diving off the set. He doesn't actually
interfere
in the match though. Tazz wins this one with the Tazmission. Great
nostalgia
piece here Rating: 4.5 out of 10

Extra 7> Torrie Wilson vs. Tygress - A good year and a half
in WCW
and THIS was the best they could do for Torrie? This is her debut
"match",
and is a bra-and-panties bout, which she loses. Terrible. Rating: 0
out of 10

Extra 9> John Cena vs. Kurt
Angle - We start with Angle's now-famous
open challenge, which Cena accepts. This match is on one of my
compilation tapes,
so that should tell you immediately what I think of it. Angle sells
for Cena
very well, and at times it looks like Cena will pick up the W. Angle,
of course,
ends up with the duke with a Tiger roll-up. Rating: 6 out of 10

Overall, the extras are pretty good, but there could've been more.
Neither
Orton or Lesnar have extras, and one of RVD's early WWF or even WCW
matches
would have been great on the DVD. Still, it's worth checking out, as
it it's
an interesting look at the break-in days for the WWE stars of today.